


The Lonely Owl

by softsadcancer



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, BokuAka Week, BokuAka Week 2020, Bokuaka - Freeform, Childhood Friends, Cute, Happy Ending, M/M, bkak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:54:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25614664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softsadcancer/pseuds/softsadcancer
Summary: “Oh, you look like an owl!”“Eh? An owl?”“Yeah!”-In a game of hide-and-seek, a new friend is found.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji & Bokuto Koutarou, Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Comments: 6
Kudos: 80
Collections: Bokuaka Week 2020





	The Lonely Owl

“Tag, you’re it!”

Everyone ran away screaming, the little boy, the “it”, gleefully chased the others, his arms stretched out to catch the next the culprit.

Akaashi laughed as he too ran from his friend, his face red as beads of sweat ran down his face. He quickly wiped them as he continued running, careful not to let sweat in his eyes that could deter his running. After all, he didn’t want to be it, now did he?

It was a typical scene at the playground on a Friday evening; the weekend meant extra time to finish homework, which left Friday evening as the ultimate playtime for the 1st graders. After all, Grade 1 was incredibly difficult, and after a week of grueling work, they deserved at least one day to let loose and run around and play. And that day was always Friday.

Luckily, the playground was relatively close to everyone’s houses, and they all lived nearby, so they didn’t have to worry about adult supervision. Instead, they basked in the glory of unsupervised time with each other; no one was the ruler of themselves but themselves.

At least, on Friday evenings, that rule applied. And to Akaashi, it was enough; being able to play with his friends till night fell, that was what Fridays were all about.

“Tag, you’re it now!”

“I was already it two times in a row now!”

“Yeah, I’m getting bored now, shall we play something else?”

“But what?”

“What about hide-and-seek?” Akaashi called out as he waved at his friends, jogging his way over from where he stood. He was still red, now shining with sweat. He wiped the sweat that was dripping down from his hair with the back of his hand as his eyes sparkled. “We haven’t played that in a long time!” He continued.

Everyone cheered in unison.

“Okay, who’s the seeker?”

“Not it!”

“Not it!”

“I don’t wanna be it!”

“Let’s do ‘Bubblegum’, then,” Akaashi said with a small smile, as he stuck his foot out. “Come on, it’ll be fair that way.”

Everyone grumbled but complied; if no one wanted to volunteer as “it”, it usually meant using ‘Bubblegum’. They all stood in a circle, a single foot out in front of them as Akaashi crouched low. He looked up and flashed a thumbs up. He flashed his pearly whites, albeit the small gap in the front.

“Akaashi’s half-smile!” Everyone teased making Akaashi conscious of his toothy smile as he quickly covered it up. “Stop making fun of it,” he pouted. “They’ll grow back.”

The others laughed. “I could fit my finger in there!” One of the boys said, trying to stick his finger between Akaashi’s lips. Akaashi pushed him away and rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Anyways, ready?”

“Yeah!” The others cheered in unison as they all sang together as Akaashi tapped each foot to the beat of the little rhyme.

“Bubblegum, bubblegum, in a dish! How many pieces do you wish?”

It landed on a little girl wearing a mint green shirt with brow corduroy overalls. “How many pieces, Hikari?” Akaashi asked, his finger on her shiny black strap-on shoes.

Hikari rubbed her chin, eyes screwed shut as she tried to do the math in her head on how many pieces she would want in order for her not to be chosen as the seeker.

“Hikari, you can’t think!” One of the boys called out, pinching her elbow. “That’s not fair!”

“You’re not allowed to think, Hikari!” Another girl wailed. “Akaashi, she’s thinking!”

“Hikari, you have three seconds to choose how many bubblegum pieces you want,” Akaashi said calmly, a grin slowly spreading on his face. “Three…”

“Two!” The other cried.

Hikari visibly panicked and cried out, “Twelve!”

“Okay, twelve pieces!” Akaashi said excitedly as he began tapping each foot, reciting the numbers one through twelve slowly. Everyone stood there in anticipation as Akaashi counted.

“Akaashi! Hurry up!”

“Don’t make us wait!”

“Akaaaaaaaashiiiii!”

Akaashi laughed as he sped up after seven, his finger landing on an orange shoe, that belonged to a boy wearing a striped blue shirt and black sports shorts. “Sorry, Kaito, looks like you’re it!” He grinned, looking up.

Kaito sighed and shook his head. “Hikari, I’m going to get you for this,” He grumbles, waving his hand in the air as Hikari stuck her tongue out at him. Akaashi nodded as he stood up, pushing Kaito in the direction of the slide. “Yes yes, she’ll regret it and all that,” Akaashi waved his hand, his other hand still on Kaito’s back as they walked away from the group. “Now go count so we can start the game. Then you can get back at her.” Akaashi winked at him as he fled to the group, all of them trembling with excitement.

Kaito looked back at the group and shook his head. Sure, being the seeker wasn’t all that fun, but the power that came with it, seeing his friends quiver in what he could only assume was fear at being found, fueled him with an unknown power that pushed him to want to be the best seeker. He stuck his tongue out at them, turned his back to them and leaned against one of the pillars sighing loudly.

Everyone else giggled at Kaito’s dramatic flair and ran in different directions, determining which spot would be the best to remain hidden. Some took to the bushes, others behind trees. Typical spots you’d choose when playing hide-and-seek. But not for Akaashi. If playing hide-and-seek taught him one thing, it’s that you stand a better chance at winning if you could still keep an eye on the seeker. And what better way than to have an aerial view of what was going on?

He turned to the nearest tree, a toothy grin plastered to his face as he tried to find his footing in the bark, the sound of Kaito counting echoing. The branches were strong so he had no problem climbing them and puling himself up.

“…thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen…”

His feet firmly planted on the bark of the tree, Akaashi grabbed the branch in front of him, pulled himself up and was about to comfortable sit and watch chaos ensue below when he was met with wide golden eyes in the shadows of the tree.

“Oh!” Akaashi gasped, losing his footing as he dangled on the one branch. Akaashi felt his heart hammer against his ribcage, scared for his life and also of the eyes that had seemed to stare into his very soul.

“Take my hand!”

A small figure emerged from the shadows of the tree, his eyes still golden and bright. He reached out a hand to Akaashi. Without a moment’s hesitation, Akaashi grabbed the hand and allowed himself to be pulled up on to the branch. He bumped onto the branch with an ‘oomph’, his hands gripping on to the sides of the thick bark the branch was protruding from. The boy moved away and sat on the branch on the other side of the trunk, leaning against it.

“Ready or not, here I come!” Kaito called out as he ran away from the playground, now looking for his victims.

Akaashi took in a deep breath and tried to calm his furiously beating heart. He turned to the small boy who has helped him – but also scared him. He sat with one leg dangling over the branch, the other hugged close to his chest. He wore a black cap, with thick tufts of his silver hair poking through. Akaashi watched as this golden-eyed silver-haired boy watched forlornly at his friends running and screaming down below.

“Um, thanks for saving me,” Akaashi said, with a small smile.

“I scared you first though,” the small boy replied, sighing sadly. “If I hadn’t scared you, I wouldn’t have had to save you.”

“Oh, no, I just missed my footing,” Akaashi lied, one hand behind his head, looking sheepish. “I mean, yes, you did shock me, but really it was me.”

The boy stared at Akaashi, and for some reason, Akaashi couldn’t bring himself to tear away from those eyes. First off, they were the biggest eyes he had ever seen on someone; he felt as though he was losing himself in them. Even in the dark they shone brightly as though they held light in them. Second, it was the most exquisite colour he had ever seen on anyone. At first glance, you would think they were just golden – already such a pretty colour of eye on a person – but as you continued to stare, you’d realize it was actually a kaleidoscope of colours. Akaashi found himself discovering little speckles of red, orange and white, colours he’d never think he’d find in someone’s eyes. If anything, his eyes reminded him of a warm campfire in the woods. Akaashi felt a buzz of warmth in his chest.

“What happened to your teeth?” the boy asked.

“Baby teeth,” Akaashi said, quickly covering his mouth.

“Oh, I thought someone punched you,” The boy said, turning away from Akaashi.

“Punched me? Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know. I had someone say they’d punch me if looked at them longer than I was allowed to, so I thought the same happened to you.”

“What? That’s horrible!” Akaashi exclaimed. “Who said that?”

The boy shrugged, his eyes glued to the ground where Akaashi’s friends were, running from Kaito.

“Do you want to come and play with us?” Akaashi asked, inching closer to the boy. He stepped out on to the nearest branch, holding himself steady with the trunk. The boy looked up, shocked, and moved away from Akaashi, his eyes wide.

“No thanks!” He shook his head violently, pulling his leg closer to his chest.

“Why not?” Akaashi asked, sitting down on the branch as he watched the boy.

He mumbled something that Akaashi couldn’t quite catch, so he moved closer. “What?”

“Careful!”

Akaashi felt a strong grip on his arm as he grabbed on to the branch he was sitting on, his feet dangling again as small twigs tumbled to the ground beneath them. “See?” Akaashi laughed nervously. “Bad footing.”

The boy stared at him, his head cocked to one side as he pulled him onto another branch. “I don’t get along well with other kids.”

“Oh,” Akaashi said, dusting his legs as he brought on leg close to his chest. “Why’s that?”

“I don’t know,” The boy replied sadly. “They always… they always make fun of me.”

“Why?”

The boy looked up. “They say I look like a monster.”

It was Akaashi’s turn to cock his head, confused at his statement. A monster? This boy before him was anything _but._ Even in the shadows, this boy had an aura about him that seemed to be pulling Akaashi towards him. Maybe it was his eyes, the way they entranced him, or the way his voice was soft, reminding him of a harp in large hall, echoing off the walls.

Or maybe, just maybe, it was the way he shrunk himself against the tree, wearing dark colours to blend in with the shadows; maybe it was the way this beautiful boy was hiding from the world, like a precious amber stone tucked away in a piece of hard rock, undiscovered and unfound.

“A monster?” Akaashi echoed. “How?”

The boy turned to Akaashi, his cheek resting on his knee. “They say my eyes are scary, and my hair stands up weirdly, like it has a life of its own.”

“Really?” Akaashi leaned forward. “Can I see?”

“No!” The boy stood up and scrambled higher into the tree. Akaashi stood up quickly, steadying himself with the trunk as he struggled to keep up. This boy must’ve spent so much of his time in trees for him to be so nimble. On one hand, that was incredible; look at him scale the tree like it was nothing!

On the other hand, how incredibly sad a life he must’ve lived so far to think staying up in the trees was the way to go.

“Wait a minute!” Akaashi panted, pausing for a moment to catch his breath.

The boy turned back, crouched as he stared back at Akaashi, his eyes piercing his soul. Akaashi was breathless, but not from climbing the tree, but from those two eyes looking back at him. How beautiful were those eyes that looked at him.

“I think you’re beautiful,” Akaashi said suddenly, the words slipping out of him before he had a chance to think about it. Akaashi felt his face burn. Oh my god, did the boy think he was weird for complimenting him, a boy he hardly knew?

“I mean – “

“Really?”

The boy dropped a couple of branches lower, sat on one with his back facing Akaashi. He hooked his legs on the branch and swung down, so his face was a mere few inches from Akaashi. “You think I’m beautiful?”

Akaashi could hear his heart beating in his chest. Why was he being so weird? He just complimented him, what was so bad in that?

“I mean,” Akaashi coughed. Big golden eyes stared back at him. “Yeah, I think your eyes are the prettiest I’ve ever seen.”

The boy grabbed Akaashi’s face, much to his surprise and pulled him closer. “Hmm,” he mused. “Well, you don’t seem to be looking away, so you must be telling the truth.”

“Well, I can’t possibly look away,” Akaashi said sheepishly, eyes still fixed on his. “Your eyes are honestly quite entrancing and I can’t bring myself to look away. Not that I want to, they’re too pretty to not look at.”

The boy released his grip on Akaashi and swung upwards. He stood up and gently hopped on to the branch Akaashi sat on. Legs on either side of the branch, the boy inched closer to Akaashi, who inched backwards until his back hit the trunk. “You’re an interesting one, Kaashi.”

“Eh?” Akaashi looked surprised. “You know my name?”

“I heard your friends below call you,” The boy said, leaning forward.

“Well, it’s actually Akaashi, Akaashi Keiji.”

“Ah-kaa-sheeeee,” the boy said, repeating his name a couple of times as though he was trying to get a feel of it in his mouth. Akaashi giggled.

“What about you? What’s your name?”

The boy hesitated, squinting his eyes, almost as though he wasn’t sure if he should tell Akaashi or not.

“I won’t make fun of you,” Akaashi said solemnly, hand on his heart. “If you have a weird name, that is.”

“No, it’s not that,” the boy said, his face a mix of confusion but also surprise. “It’s just, I don’t know why you’re being so nice to me.”

“Why would I have a reason to be mean to you?”

“You don’t think I look weird?”

“Well, I’ve just told you how I think your eyes are very pretty, despite being told that they’re scary,” Akaashi shrugged. “And I don’t know what your hair looks like, but if that cap can keep it down, then I don’t see how it has a ‘life of its own’.”

“Well,” the boy placed his hands on his cap and slowly removed it, revealing his thick silver hair. And true to his words, it did stand up. In fact, taking him all in at once, Akaashi’s eyes went wide when he realized –

“Oh, you look like an owl!”

“Eh? An owl?”

“Yeah!” Akaashi leaned in closer to the boy. He ran his hands into the boy’s hair, much to his own surprise. “See? These are like the owl’s head feathers, all spiky and standing up, and then your eyes! Your eyes are just like that of an owl’s! Plus!” Akaashi paused to catch his breath. “You’re so nimble up this tree, and you even sit and crouch like an owl! That’s really cool!”

“Oh, you think so?” The boy smiled for the first time since Akaashi met him and it was a sight to behold.

“Yeah!” Akaashi said, mirroring his smile. “Owls are really cool!” He placed his fingers around his eyes and opened them wider. “They can see in the night and are so quiet, their prey doesn’t hear them! And they can turn their head all the way around!” Akaashi tried to demonstrate, turning his head side to side. “Owls are so cool!”

“Yeah, they are cool!” The boy said, laughing as he pumped his fists in the air. “Owls are cool!”

“Yeah!” Akaashi laughed with him.

“You have a nice smile, Kaashi!” The boy exclaimed, his eyes wide.

“Ahh!” Akaashi’s hands flew up to his mouth, covering his smile as he laughed nervously. “Some people say I look weird when I smile because all you see is this gaping hole.”

“Really?” the boy cocked his head to the side. “I think it’s quite endearing!”

“Oh, what does that mean?” Akaashi asked, lowering his hand.

The boy shrugged. “I don’t know. My mum uses it all the time when my baby sister laughs or does anything cute. And I think the same about your smile.”

Oh, what was this? Akaashi felt his heart beating in his chest, but not wildly like before; this time, it was like a warm flutter that spread throughout his body, right to the tingles he felt in his toes.

“Oh,” Akaashi said, looking down at his hands. “Um, thank you… Oh!” Akaashi quickly looked up. “I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name!”

“Bokuto,” He said proudly. “Bokuto Koutarou.”

“Oh, like the horned owl!” Akaashi exclaimed. “Bokuto!”

Bokuto’s eyes went wide, his mouth formed in the shape of an O. Akaashi nodded. “The great horned owl, that’s what you are!”

“You’re right!” Bokuto stood up on the branch, reaching up for the branch above. “Come on, let’s go higher up like real owls!”

Akaashi beamed, flashing Bokuto an ‘endearing’ toothy smile as he took the hand that was offered to him. As he stood up, he remembered the abandoned game of hide-and-seek with his friends below. He quickly let go of Bokuto’s hand, his face painted in hurt, as he lowered himself a couple of branches down to see what his friends were up to. And sure enough, all his friends were found but him. They were all walking around, shouting and calling out for him.

“Akaashi!”

“Akaashi where are you?”

“Game over, you win, Akaashi!”

“You have to go?” Bokuto said sadly, snapping his cap back on his head.

Akaashi nodded. “My friends are looking for me,” he said, wearing a sad smile. Then, an idea. “Oh, come down with me!”

Bokuto hesitated.

“I promised they’re all very nice,” Akaashi offered his hand. “They’re all like me, and they’ll love you!”

“Like you?” Bokuto said, jumping down to the branch where Akaashi stood. “And they’ll love me? Does that mean – does that mean _you_ love me?”

Did he actually say that? “Um, well, I mean,” Akaashi struggled to find something to say. “I mean, they’ll like you like me – when I say love I mean like but like, on another level, you know? I didn’t mean – “

Bokuto laughed, much to Akaashi’s relief as he felt the knot in his chest dissipate. “You really are an interesting one, Kaashi,” Bokuto said, poking Akaashi’s cheek. “Do you mind if I call you that? Kaashi?”

Akaashi nodded, feeling some warmth that came from Bokuto calling him ‘Kaashi’.

“Of course, Bokuto,” He smiled. “I find it quite endearing when you do.”

Bokuto squealed in delight at the use of the word on him. “Do you really?”

Akaashi nodded, his hand still outstretched. “So, will you come down with me?”

Bokuto gladly took Akaashi’s hand, a smile plastered on his face. “Okay, Kaashi!”

The two carefully maneuvered they’re way down the tree – well, it was more Bokuto telling Akaashi which branch to step – and safely reached the ground. Once their feet were safely touching the ground, Akaashi grabbed Bokuto’s hand and ran towards his friends, calling them out.

“I’m here!” He exclaimed, waving his other hand to grab their attention. “I’ve brought a friend, so please be nice to him!”

The others stopped in their tracks and murmured amongst themselves, eyeing the new visitor as Akaashi and Bokuto got closer to them. Akaashi could feel Bokuto start to get uncomfortable, playing with the hem of his shirt as he stared at the ground. Nope, Akaashi was not going to stand for this. He was not going to stand for Bokuto being sad when happy Bokuto was an absolute light of a person.

“This is Bokuto, Bokuto Koutarou,” Akaashi said, gesturing at Bokuto. “And he doesn’t have any friends, and could use some!”

“Oh, Bokuto!” One of the other boys said, stepping forward. “Like the owl?”

“Yeah!” said another girl, grinning. “You even look like one with your golden eyes!”

“Yeah, your eyes look so cool, Bokuto!” Hikari chimed in, walking towards him.

Soon, all of Akaashi’s friends were all over him, complimenting his eyes, running their hands through his silver hair – his cap fallen to the floor – asking where he lived, what school he went to; after all, a friend of Akaashi’s was a friend of theirs! Akaashi could see Bokuto was feeling slightly overwhelmed, judging by the nervous laugh he let out. He quickly grabbed Bokuto’s hand and pulled him to his side, relieving him of anymore questions. “One at a time, you’re crowding him!”

Everyone apologized but were back with smiles. Kaito picked up his hat, dusted it off and handed it back to Bokuto. “Sorry if we were too much!” he said with a smile. “Anyways, it’s gonna get dark soon, so why don’t we play one more game of hide-and-seek?”

Everyone cheered in unison. Akaashi watched as Bokuto quivered with excitement. “Can – can I be the seeker?”

Everyone turned to look at him, shocked. “You – you _voluntarily_ want to be seeker?” Hikari asked.

“Yeah, why not?” Bokuto beamed.

Everyone looked at each other, shrugging and nodding at one another.

“Plus,” Bokuto said, his eyes wide. “With my owl vision, I will catch all of you, just wait!”

This resulted in everyone erupting into a fit of squeals and giggles as they all ran in different directions to hide. Akaashi stayed for a while as Bokuto turned to count. He caught sight of Akaashi still near him and turned to him. “Aren’t you going to hide?”

“Just trying to think of where to hide, now that this owl friend of mine is an expert in the trees _and_ can see in the dark,” Akaashi mused, playfully rubbing his chin.

Bokuto laughed heartily. “I feel like even if that wasn’t the case, I’d still be able to find you, Kaashi.”

“Oh, is that so?” Akaashi challenged, ready to run and hide.

“Yeah,” Bokuto said solemnly, turning his back to Akaashi. “Because I don’t want to lose my first friend and the first person to say that my eyes are pretty.” And with that, he began counting.

Akaashi felt his heart pound in his ears as he walked away, his face burning. He sat behind a tree nearby and rubbed his face – rubbing what? He didn’t know – and tried to calm his beating heart.

_Because I don’t want to lose my first friend and the first person to say that my eyes are pretty._

-

The game ended quickly – true to Bokuto’s word, he did find them all very quickly – and they all tiredly said goodbye to one another, thanking each other for another great Friday and inviting Bokuto to join them again next week. Akaashi and Bokuto remained on the swings when everyone left, swinging in silence.

“What time do you have to be back?” Akaashi asked.

Bokuto stared up at the sky. “Soon, I think. You?”

“Me too.”

They continued to swing in silence for a little while longer before Akaashi spoke up. “Why are people mean to you?”

“I told you, they said I looked like a monster,” Bokuto replied, looking down at the ground.

“Well, that’s horrible of them to say, and I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“Don’t apologize,” Bokuto smiled as he looked at Akaashi. “It’s not your fault.”

Bokuto was right, it wasn’t his fault, but he felt compelled to apologize on behalf of those mean people who hurt him.

“Who said it?” Akaashi said as he jumped off the swing. “I’ll fight them.”

Bokuto laughed, still sitting on the swing. “They’re from my previous school,” Bokuto said, slowly swinging himself. “I zone out a lot in class, so I zoned out but happened to be staring at this one girl, and she got creeped out and scared. She then told everyone I was staring at her with my scary eyes, and then her older brother and friends thought I was a – perv? I don’t know, they said they’d punch me if I did that again, and then said some mean stuff about me.”

“Why didn’t anyone try to stop them?” Akaashi asked, shocked.

“They’re older,” Bokuto shrugged. “No one messes with the older classes.”

“Couldn’t you tell the teacher?”

“They didn’t hurt me, so what could they do?”

“But they hurt you _inside_ ,” Akaashi said, standing in front of Bokuto as he poked his chest.

“I guess. But that doesn’t count if you can’t see it.”

“Yes it does,” Akaashi crossed his arms. “Inside pain is just as painful as outside pain.”

Bokuto nodded, playing with the hem of his shirt. “Thanks for saying that, Kaashi.”

Akaashi smiled. “So do you still go there?”

Bokuto shook his head. “I didn’t even want to wake up for class, and cried a lot, so my parents decided to pull me out for a bit while they find a new school.”

“You should come to my school!” Akaashi exclaimed, his hands to the sky. “You already know all my friends, so you’ll have plenty of friends!”

Bokuto’s face brightened. “Oh, that would be nice! And you’d be there too!”

Akaashi laughed. “Yeah, I’ll be there too.”

It was quiet for a while between them. Akaashi drew squiggles in the sand with his shoes while Bokuto leaned back on the swing, holding on tightly to the chains. The sky was darker than it was when they were first on the swing set. Bokuto sat up. “Wanna walk home together?”

Akaashi nodded. “Yeah, wanna go now before it gets any darker?”

Bokuto nodded and jumped off the swing too. “Don’t worry, I have perfect night vision so we won’t get lost.”

“That, and all the street lights are on,” Akaashi chuckled as they walked in the direction of his house.

“Yeah, that too,” Bokuto grinned.

They two talked animatedly while walking, discussing things like their favourite food (BBQ meat and onigiri), their birthdays (20th September and 5th December), their favourite sports (they both seemed to share an interest in volleyball), etc. it wasn’t long before they reached the front porch of Akaashi’s house.

“Well, this is me!” Akaashi said brightly as he turned to face Bokuto.

“Now I know where you live!” Bokuto said with a smile. “Can I come visit you, if that’s okay?”

Akaashi nodded. “Of course, I’d love to have you over!”

Bokuto beamed once more, flashing those pretty white teeth of his, his smile reaching his eyes. “Awesome!” He waved as he turned to walk away, Akaashi waving back as he turned to make his way up to his front door.

“Kaashi, wait!”

“What – “

Before Akaashi could process what had happened, Bokuto had his arms wrapped tightly around Akaashi. “Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you for being my friend.”

Akaashi smiled as he lifted his arms to wrap around Bokuto. “Thank you for letting me be your friend.”

The two young boys held on to each other for a little while longer before releasing each other. Bokuto waved as he jogged away. Akaashi watched him leave until he was no longer in his line of sight. Then he slowly made his back to his front door. His ear still tingled where Bokuto had whispered. _Thank you for being my friend._

_Because I don’t want to lose my first friend and the first person to say that my eyes are pretty._

_I think it’s quite endearing!_

_Kaashi!_

Akaashi rubbed his face again. What were with all these feelings in his chest, threatening to burst out? He took a deep breath and opened the front door.

“Keiji? Is that you?”

“Yes, it’s me!” Akaashi replied as his mum came out of the kitchen.

“Just in time for dinner!” She said, walking back to the kitchen. Akaashi closed the door and followed her inside. “So, did you have fun?”

Akaashi nodded. “We played hide-and-seek, and I found something very pretty.”

The image of his fiery golden eyes was burnt into his memory.

“Is that so?” his mother asked, smiling as she set the table. “And what was that?”

“A pretty owl in need of a friend.”

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BOKUAKA WEEK!!!  
> AAAAAA there's nothing like celebrating one of the cutest ships in haikyuu like a whole 10 days of them :D  
> i always liked to think bb akaashi was an outgoing precious baby who just wanted to be friends with everyone!!!  
> anyways AAAA i hope you liked this story!!! i'm sorry if there are any typos!!! it's like 3am now and i was breezing through trying to finish writing it :D  
> lemme know what you think, or any tips to improve my writing :D  
> HAVE A GREAT WEEK WOOOO


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